IT jobs

The cloud has become more and more prominent in business over the last few years. With this change there have also come more cloud jobs. And while the cloud continues to grow over the next few years the cloud will continue to employ more and more people.

The challenge that this brings is that most companies aren’t sure how to define what a cloud role would be. Because the cloud is still so new, they are not sure what to name cloud positions or even what specific skills would be necessary for hiring a cloud-focused employee. And since there is so much left in question, businesses are also unsure how much to pay their cloud-focused employees.

Does your business have a handle of what the cloud employee role should look like? Or are you like most businesses today that are trying to figure it out? Let us know in the comments section.

And do you agree that this is ripe, and the cloud role is still unsettled? Or is this just hype?

Gartner has predicated a relatively flat growth forecast in the IT sector over the next year. However that prediction doesn’t apply to one sector of IT, the big data labor market. The big data labor market has been predicted to grow exponentially between now and 2015, creating some 4.4 million IT jobs worldwide, with 1.9 million in the US.

Not only does Gartner expect big data to create 4.4 million IT jobs, but big data is also expected to create 3 jobs outside of the IT industry for every 1 job that is created within IT. This could mean that big data will create almost 6 million jobs inside the US.

Do you believe this article is ripe, and that new jobs are on their way because of big data? Or is this article hype and big data won’t bring in new jobs?

Hype or Ripe

Do you believe that big data will have big growth and create new jobs along the way?

There has been a lot of discussion about BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and whether it is beneficial for companies. BYOD may cost companies more to secure than a company owned device program would, but can the employees make up for this cost with more effective and efficient work with their own devices?

Here are three ways that BYOD proves to be more effective and efficient for employees:

1. Employees are familiar with their own devices: They know the quickest ways to use their personal devices and have apps and shortcuts set-up in order to do things more efficiently.
2. Employees are more accessible: Employees keep their personal phones with them all the time while they might only keep their company phone with them during work hours.
3. Increased chance for new hires: People desire to be at a company where they can use their own device, making BYOD a consideration in the employment process. (BYOD can also make training new employees easier, since they are already familiar with the device).

What do you think? Is BYOD a ripe way to increase productivity with your employees? Or is the idea of BYOD leading to more effective and efficient employees a bunch of hype?

With staffing being over 30% of the average IT budget, it is always under the microscope as companies look for ways to reduce cost. But, there may be a better way to look at it.

In a blog post in early 2011, Dave Cappuccio, Gartner, discusses whether there is a crisis looming in IT staffing or whether it is an opportunity in disguise. He views the skill set requirements of an IT resource as the T in IT. In his analogy, the vertical bar of the T is the technical skill set of a resource. Many times we mistakenly judge the worth of a resource by the depth of this vertical bar. But, in reality, our go-to resources for projects are those that have strong technology-business linkages. This is the cross bar in the T. The broader the linkages, the stronger the resource. The point is the latter resource can potentially impact the business greater and these jobs have lower turnover rate than do jobs that depend solely on a person’s technical skills.

A recent study in MIS Quarterly, and reported on in Computerworld in April 2012, focused on IT investments concluded that spending on projects that create revenue significantly increase profitability more so than just reducing costs. Based on the premise above, this requires IT resources with a broader cross bar in their T than a deeper vertical bar. The face of IT resources is changing.

With alternate delivery models for technical resources such as remote infrastructure management, IT departments are able to have access to cost effective, key technical resources as needed. For example, a company can have access to a tier 3 SAN resource when needed without having to retain such a high level resource on their payroll. Similar statements can be made regarding fully managed cloud services. These resources are the vertical bar of the T. Utilizing these alternate delivery models allows companies to invest in resources that create revenue. These resources are the cross bar of the T.

A move to the Cloud does not mean that your IT staff has to be fearful of losing their jobs. Making a move to the Cloud will change the daily work for the IT staff, but it will not make their presence in the company obsolete. It is important for employees on the IT staff to look at a move to the Cloud with a proactive approach, rather than trying to resist the change of the company. One way that a company can help their IT staff be proactive is by providing the IT staff with training to prepare for the move to the Cloud focusing on information that will be most beneficial such as project management and interpersonal communication.

CIO reports that only 7% of companies say that their IT staff has skills exactly where they want them to be. Forty-six percent of companies estimate that the main factor contributing to their IT staff’s skill gap is fast changing technology.

Do you think that a company’s IT staff should be proactive when it comes to a move the Cloud and this is ripe? Or do you think this is just hype?

Hype or Ripe

Should a company’s IT staff be proactive when it comes to moving to the Cloud?

The assumption with Cloud computing is that it will be a job eliminator, especially when it comes to your neighborhood IT person. But a study conducted by IDC and commissioned by Microsoft shows that an opposite outcome may occur. The study indicates that cloud computing will not eliminate jobs, but instead could generate up to 14 million jobs worldwide by 2015.

The study also predicts that small and medium businesses will generate more cloud-related jobs then larger enterprises.

What do you think, will cloud computing provide us with 14 million new jobs by 2015 and this is ripe, or will cloud computing eliminate jobs making this hype?